ReFredding
by AzoNintendo
Summary: Fred survived, but was separated from his family, who thinks he is dead. George, believing otherwise, sets out to find his twin. Fred, however, heads back to the Burrow, where he is mistaken for George. Canon pairings, AU where Fred's body is never found.
1. Chapter 1

**If you're like me, you simply can't come to terms with Fred dying. I mean, _Fred? _Reeeally. **

**So, I had an idea, but I had to tweak the canon a bit to get it to work. So, let's just pretend that Fred's body was never found, okay? Then this story will make more sense.**

**Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling, the only real-life witch.  
**

George couldn't face anybody. It had been a week since Fred had gone missing, and he was on edge about everything. The witches and wizards cleaning up after the war had found, horrifyingly enough, random, grotesque body parts near where the explosion had taken place. They had been forced to conclude that Fred was de-

No, no he wasn't they had never found a body, so he couldn't be d-

No, no, George, don't even _think _it, because then that will make it true.

The mediwitches had assured the Weasleys that they were searching best they could for Fred, but it had been almost a week. What if they called off the search?

Well, he figured, he could do with some food. He hadn't eaten since the war ended. He wondered if Fred was hungry, wherever he was at the moment, because it sure as hell wasn't the other side, or wherever the hell you go after you d-

No. Just stop thinking, George, and stay away from words like that. If there's no body, he wasn't dead, right?

* * *

Fred's head hurt. Quite badly.

He knew he wasn't fully conscious, but from what he could tell he was under a rock. Had be been blasted here from that explosion? It seemed like it. When he touched the back of his throbbing head, he was surprised and disgusted when it came away bloody.

He stood up, hoisting himself out from under the cavelike structure he was stuck beneath, and looked around. He recognized his surroundings as the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

"Bloody hell," he muttered. "I gotta get back to the fight." He turned on his heel and apparated back to the castle.

* * *

George walked downstairs, and the minute the rest of his family caught sight of him, the whole room turned cold. Every single Weasley was staring at him as if he was a bomb getting ready to explode.

He walked to the cabinets and got some food, his mother looking as if she was going to say something. George looked back at her expectantly.

"George, dear..." She hesitated, then continued at top speed. "Georgie, it's been a week, and we just got an owl from the Auror's Office. They've called off the search."

It felt like the bottom of his stomach had dropped out. It was as if the very thought of Fred never being here again- No, the _reality _of it- had knocked him off his feet. The kitchen spun. Nevertheless, he faced his tearful mother and said, "What?"

"T-they've stopped looking. H-he's g-gone. I'm sorry, George, dear," she replied, the last words of her sentence engulfed in sobs, and grabbed her remaining twin around the neck. George let her cry for a few moments before plopping down in one of the more comfortable chairs in the living room.

It was a few minutes of staring at his hands a letting the information soak into his brain that he noticed all the Weasleys, plus Harry and Hermione, were staring at him. Not in a gawking sort of way, but expectant. Wondering if he was going to break anything. "What?" was all he could say.

"George..." He looked to see Hermione, already crying, with Ron's arm around her shoulders. "I'm very sorry..."

"Don't be sorry, he's not dead." The words came so easily from his mouth, but somewhere deep down he felt like he was lying.

"George, stop it. You're just making this harder." Bill had spoken this time. His voice was steady, but he wasn't looking directly at George.

George couldn't reply. As he looked at the people staring at him, he noticed more and more of them starting to cry. Was he really causing all of this? For no reason?

He had to leave, now.

His hand was on the doorknob when he heard Charlie's voice. "George, where are you going?"

"Out for a bit. I'll be back soon." It was getting easier and easier to lie. He wasn't coming back even remotely soon, because what he had in mind was going to take a while.

He was going to find Fred.

* * *

When the suffocating sensation had lifted from Fred's body, he was surprised to see that there was nobody left in the castle, at least in the Great Hall. Where had everyone gone? Had the war ended while he was lying under that rock? He couldn't have been gone _that _long...

He searched around the deserted Great Hall, half expecting someone to jump out from behind a suit of armor, but finding only discarded garbage and dust. He turned on his heel and apparated back to Hogsmeade.

When he landed, he was right on Main Street. The sound was deafening, and for a minute he thought that the war had been relocated to Hogsmeade, but then realized it was cheering, firecrackers, music. People were celebrating.

Huge, purple posters were all around him, saying similar things - _"You-Know-Who is Gone!", "The War is Over!". _

Wait a minute.

What?

Dear God, how long had he been out?

He tapped the shoulder of a passing stranger. "Excuse me, how long has the war been over?"

The man smiled and said, "Oh, about a week today. Isn't it wonderful?"

Fred didn't reply, he just turned on the spot and apparated back to the Burrow.


	2. Chapter 2

George decided that the logical first place to search was Hogwarts, the last place he'd seen Fred. He turned on his heel, and thought, in the split second it took him to dissaparate, that he heard a loud, cracking noise. He dismissed it as nothing.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the Hogwarts grounds where he and Fred had caused so much mischief. There was nobody around. He figured that this time of night, the witches and wizards working on rebuilding would all be home.

He ran up the the castle, he saw it, for the first time in his life, completely empty. Nobody was in the hall, he even checked the whole castle at once with a _hominum revealio _spell. Fred was not here.

* * *

Fred appeared at his doorstep, and was greeted with a loud crack. He looked around for anyone else apparating onto the premises, but nobody was there. He shrugged it off and entered the house.

The entire Weasley clan plus Harry and Hermione were crowded in the living room, all with similar uncomfortable looks on their faces. Charlie nodded at him. "Good to see you're back so soon."

"What's that supposed to mean, Mr. Sarcasm?" he replied with a smile, which wasn't returned by anyone.

"Well, you were only out there for three seconds," Ron said, shrugging.

"What? I was at Hogsmeade for at least a week. Come to think of it, how come nobody came and looked for me?" He plopped down on a chair. "Nobody care enough about 'ol Fred?"

"Hogsmeade?" Ron's eyebrow raised incredulously. "And since when are we talking about Fred?"

"Well, you _were _talking about me being gone, right?"

"Yeah, but you're not Fred. Fred's... not here right now."

"I am Fred, you git."

"George, quit it. Nobody's in the mood." And to Fred's surprise, Ron got up and left, stomping up the stairs.

"Oh, I should go see if he's alright." And Hermione hurried up after him.

"What's their problem? Someone die or something?" Fred said humorously, getting a reaction from nobody. In fact, Charlie stood up in anger.

"George, all you've done since you came back in is pretend you're Fred! Just drop it! Nobody wants to talk about it, so shut up!" Charlie walked towards the stairs, mumbling something about going to see if Ron was okay.

Nobody spoke for a long time. Fred was utterly confused. Why was everyone so on edge?

He decided to voice a concern that had been on his mind for a few minutes now. "Where's George?"

"George, _please." _Percy looked close to tears. "This isn't easy for anyone."

"Okay, I'll play along. Where's Fred?"

"Mum just told us, you moron," Bill said. "What, are your ears clogged with whatever new candy you're inventing?"

Mrs. Weasley walked in just then. "What's with the raised voices?" Her eyes lit up when she saw Fred. "Oh, Georgie, I'm so glad you're back!" And in seconds she was giving him a rib-crushing hug.

"Mum, I'm _Fred!" _He was actually getting a bit annoyed at this point. As far as jokes went, this one was getting old fast. "Why the hell is everyone insisting I'm George? And where _is _he, anyhow?"

"Shhh, George, stop talking."

It became apparent that Mrs. Weasley was not going to let him go any time soon, so Fred decided he's better think of a plan for the night.

* * *

George was losing hope fast when a search of Hogsmeade wielded almost the same results of his search of Hogwarts. Everyone he asked either said they had never heard of Fred, or said something along the lines of, "Yeah, real shame, that Weasley twin dying like that", and he could take that anymore.

He gave up on Hogsmeade, wondering why Fred would ever want to hide out here anyway, and apparated to their shop. He hadn't been keeping up on it, having closed it up when they went to go fight at Hogwarts. He expected many things to be stolen, windows to be broken, and the room to be filthy. Sure enough, several products were missing from the shelves when he looked around, but he didn't care. He had a nervous flutter in his stomach.

He did a quick sweep of the downstairs, then realized a spell revealing human presence would be more efficient. His heart rate increased when the spell revealed that someone was upstairs. Someone was here. _Fred was here._

He ran to the staircase. "Fred!" He was halfway up. "Fred, you git, why are you-?"

But it felt as if his stomach dropped three thousand feet when he arrived at the upper level. Fred wasn't there.

Two children, each displaying different effects of the Weasley's candy, were sitting on one of the beds, _Fred's _bed. They had armfuls of candy, which they dropped when they caught sight of George. They panicked, screamed, and disapparated.

George was unable to move for what seemed like hours. The loss of all the candy didn't bother him at all. It was the utter disappointment, the feeling of getting his hopes higher than a broomstick, then dragged through mud. He could not believe that Fred wasn't here, that he wasn't sharing a good laugh with him. He could just imagine him, smiling, and saying, "You found me, mate!"

Finally, he dragged himself over to one of the beds and slumped over, staring at the discarded candy. He picked up a wrapper for a Ton Tongue Toffee, one of the first candies he and Fred had developed. It had taken forever to prefect, and had almost killed that Muggle Dursley boy in the process, but finally it was perfect. Not that the shop would ever open again.

He couldn't do it alone.

And Fred was dead.

The tears he'd been repressing for a week finally came, spilling over, as he dropped the toffee.


	3. Chapter 3

George paced the room, thinking hard. After he had pulled himself together and slapped himself in the face a few times, he realized that he was being irrational. He had to be more hopeful. Fred had to be out there somewhere, and just because he wasn't in the first two places he looked didn't mean he was dead.

He tugged the curtains shut, muttering a few intruder-repelling spells to keep any more kids from robbing him. He strode over to his desk at one side of the room. He figured he should write a letter to his parents, since he was going to be gone for a long time. Taking out some parchment and a quill, he began to write.

_Mum and Dad,_

_I know I shouldn't have stormed out like that, but I know for sure that Fred is still alive out there somewhere, and I'm going to find him and bring him back._

_I don't know how long I'll be gone, but this'll be a good story to tell your grandkids, right?_

_Don't try to find me._

_George_

That should do it. He stuck the letter in an envelope, and walked out of his shop. He was fairly sure that Diagon Alley had a post office somewhere.

* * *

Fred woke up quite early to the sound of a tapping on the window. He grumbled and sat up, rubbing his eyes, and opened the window.

"What a rude awakening, right, G-?"

He looked across his bedroom, only to see an empty bed. He had almost forgotten what went on yesterday. What happened to George? And what did his family think happened to him?

A barn owl was perched on the window sill, holding a envelope in its beak. Fred took it and shut the window. Tearing open the envelope, he skimmed the short paragraph, but his eyes immediately jumped to the signature at the bottom of the page. _George._

George was okay. _Ha!_

But why was he looking for Fred?

"Bloody idiot, " he muttered walking out of his room and heading towards his parent's room.

He saw the sleeping mounds under the sheets that were Molly and Arthur, each softly snoring. He poked his mother in the shoulder a few times, repeating, "Mum. Mum. Mum." Finally, with a groan, she woke up.

"Yes, Georgie dear? What time is it?" She rubbed her eyes and yawned. For a second, Fred was sorry for waking her, but that was until she called him George.

"I just got a letter for you and Dad." He handed it to her.

She read through it, her eyebrows knotting together with each sentence. Her mouth parted. She even looked as if she would cry. "George," Mrs. Weasley began, "if this is your way of- of dealing with grief, then..." She paused, rubbing her eyes. "George, you're not Fred, and you can't keep pretending you are. F-Fred wouldn't have wanted it."

"What?" Fred said quietly. "W-what happened to G- to Fred?"

"Honey, I told you." Mrs. Weasley had tears streaming down her face now. "He was k-killed during the Battle of Hogwarts."

Fred felt a sick swooping in his stomach. _What the hell? _His family thought he was _dead?_ What if they had gotten mixed up, what if George was dead?

No, wait, he had the letter. So they were both alive. But where the hell was George?

"Mum, I need to borrow an owl."

"No, George." She took the letter from him. "I won't have you continuing with this. Now go back to bed."

* * *

With his family hopefully no longer wondering where he was, George was all set to check everywhere and anywhere his brother might be. Where else could he be?

For some reason, Godric's Hollow entered his mind. Could Fred be there? Why would he choose that place? Because of its significance to Gryffindor, maybe? He had been loyal to his house.

It was a long shot, but George turned on the spot and disapparated. When he appeared again, he was in bright sunshine on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow. With every step he took closer to the town, he felt his heart lift. He would find him, he knew he would._  
_

* * *

"You guys are all bonkers."

"George, shut up and eat your breakfast. None of us are in the mood," Bill demanded, shoving a piece of toast in Fred's face.

Things in the Burrow were weird, to say the least. He had given up trying to convince anyone that he was Fred, as they were all pretty adamant that he was pushing up petunias. It didn't help that Ginny and Percy teared up whenever he spoke.

"I don't see what the big deal is with you lot," he said through a mouthful of toast, earning him glares from every Weasley, Harry and Hermione. "The only reason I'm upset is because none of you are trying to find Geo- oh, I'm _sorry, _trying to find _Fred."_

"George, _shut up!" _Percy shouted. Leaving most of his breakfast, he ran past the family and up the stairs. Fred thought he heard him let out a sob before he reached the staircase. He felt a pang of guilt, but only before he realized how stupid this all was.

_"George."_ Charlie said, scolding. "Why did you say that? You know how much Percy blames himself."

"Blames himself for _what?" _Fred stood up, knocking his chair backwards. "Have all of you failed to notice I possess both my ears?" He brushed his hair out of the way and turned his head this way and that, just to be sure everyone got a clear view.

Molly, whose wand had been pointed at a hovering milk bottle, dropped. The bottle shattered.

Fred could feel everyone in the room staring at him. Ron spoke first. "T-that's not possible."

"See?" Fred said, sitting back down.

"Um..." Hermione let out a noise of disbelief. "I-it could b-be a Muggle p-prosthetic." She sounded like she wanted to believe Fred, but knew it wasn't possible.

"Prosthetic?" Mr. Weasley said. "What on earth is that?"

"I-it's a type of fake body part Muggles use sometimes."

"That's _fascinating." _He turned to Fred. "George, how ever did you manage to get your hands on one?"

Fred buried his face in his hands and put his head to the table.


End file.
